ExpertFlyer Blog

Seat Alerts - Be alerted when the seat you want becomes available

Today ExpertFlyer is proud to announce the release of our newest tool in our toolbox - Seat Alerts.  A complimentary feature to our existing Flight Alerts and Seat Maps features, Seat Alerts allows you to be notified if a currently occupied seat on your flight that you wish you were sitting in becomes available.

Some common situations where a Seat Alert could save the day:

• Families wanting to sit together but lacking enough free seats near each other.
• The specific seat you want/like isn't currently available. Very useful in business or first cabins on long haul flights (sleeper seats that face certain ways, etc)
• If you're stuck in a middle seat and want an aisle and/or window seat. Just click the Any Window or Any Aisle buttons.
• All seats are reserved but you have a ticket because the flight is oversold, if a seat opens up, you want to get it ASAP.
• You're flying in coach but want to sit in an exit row seat (for the extra legroom), but none are currently available. You can set a Seat Alert to be notified if an exit row seat becomes available

To create a Seat Alert, just view the Seat Map for your flight as usual, then click on the Create Seat Alert button next to it.  For example:

 
In this example, there are no window seats available so we can click on the "Any Window Seat" option and Seat Alerts will check for any open window seat. Also we have clicked on 3 other seats we want to be alerted about.  Just click Save and Seat Alerts takes care of the rest. Seat Alerts are supported on the 85 airlines we currently support Seat Maps for.

We also have an option that allows you to tell Seat Alerts if a seat designated as Premium Only can satisfy the alert.  Since not everyone can reserve a seat designated for flyers with elite frequent flyer status, Seat Alerts can be told to ignore them.

Just like our existing Flight Alerts service (which checks for available award/upgrade inventory), Seat Alerts helps to take some of the pain out of the travel planning process. Enjoy!

 

Improved Fare Rules Formatting

Tonight we updated how we format our Fare Rules to make them more readable and useful.  For example, what used to look like this:

RTW BOOKING CLASSES BY CARRIER CXR FIRST BUSINESS  ECONOMY AC C NOTE 4 C NOTE 4  H BD D NOTE 1 D NOTE 1  M CA A NOTE 5 D NOTE 5  M  F WITHIN CN C WITHIN CN  M WITHIN CN  F NOTE 8 C NOTE 8  M FM A NOTE 2 D NOTE 1  M JK D NOTE 1 D NOTE 1  M JP D NOTE 1 D NOTE 1  M KF D NOTE 1 D NOTE 1  M LH A NOTE 2 D NOTE 1  M LO D NOTE 1 D NOTE 1  M LX A NOTE 2 D NOTE 1  M NH A NOTE 2 D NOTE 7  B  F WITHIN JP Y WITHIN JP  Y WITHIN JP NOTE 3 NZ C NOTE 6 D NOTE 6 X  M NOTE 11 MS A NOTE 3 D NOTE 1  M OS D NOTE 1 D NOTE 1  M OU D NOTE 1 D NOTE 1  M OZ A NOTE 2 D NOTE 1  M  Y WITHIN KR Y WITHIN KR  Y WITHIN KR SA A NOTE 2 D NOTE 1  M SK/BU D NOTE 9 D NOTE 9  M NOTE 10 SQ A NOTE 2 D NOTE 1  M TG A NOTE 2 D NOTE 3  M TK A NOTE 2 D NOTE 1  M TP D NOTE 1 D NOTE 1  M UA A NOTE 5 D NOTE 5  M US A NOTE 5 D NOTE 5  M NOTE 1 IF D NOT AVAILABLE BOOK Y.
 NOTE 2 IF A NOT AVAILABLE BOOK D.
 NOTE 3 IF A/F NOT AVAILABLE BOOK D.IF D NOT AVAILABLE BOOK Y EXCEPT ON DIRECT SERVICES TO/FROM USA BOOK U.
 NOTE 4 IF C NOT AVAILABLE BOOK H.
etc...

Now looks like this:

RTW BOOKING CLASSES BY CARRIER
           CXR        FIRST        BUSINESS       ECONOMY
           AC         C NOTE 4     C NOTE 4       H
           BD         D NOTE 1     D NOTE 1       M
           CA         A NOTE 5     D NOTE 5       M
                      F WITHIN CN  C WITHIN CN    M 
                      F NOTE 8     C NOTE 8       M
           FM         A NOTE 2     D NOTE 1       M
           JK         D NOTE 1     D NOTE 1       M
           JP         D NOTE 1     D NOTE 1       M
           KF         D NOTE 1     D NOTE 1       M
           LH         A NOTE 2     D NOTE 1       M
           LO         D NOTE 1     D NOTE 1       M
           LX         A NOTE 2     D NOTE 1       M
           NH         A NOTE 2     D NOTE 7       B
                      F WITHIN JP  Y WITHIN JP    Y 
                        NOTE 3
           NZ         C NOTE 6     D NOTE 6  X    M 
           MS         A NOTE 3     D NOTE 1       M
           OS         D NOTE 1     D NOTE 1       M
           OU         D NOTE 1     D NOTE 1       M
           OZ         A NOTE 2     D NOTE 1       M
                      Y WITHIN KR  Y WITHIN KR    Y 
           SA         A NOTE 2     D NOTE 1       M
           SK/BU      D NOTE 9     D NOTE 9       M 
           SQ         A NOTE 2     D NOTE 1       M
           TG         A NOTE 2     D NOTE 3       M
           TK         A NOTE 2     D NOTE 1       M
           TP         D NOTE 1     D NOTE 1       M
           UA         A NOTE 5     D NOTE 5       M
           US         A NOTE 5     D NOTE 5       M
           NOTE 1 IF D NOT AVAILABLE BOOK Y.
           NOTE 2 IF A NOT AVAILABLE BOOK D.
           NOTE 3 IF A/F NOT AVAILABLE BOOK D.IF D NOT
                  AVAILABLE BOOK Y EXCEPT ON DIRECT
                  SERVICES TO/FROM USA BOOK U.
           NOTE 4 IF C NOT AVAILABLE BOOK H.
          

In the future, we hope to add more meta-data about the nature of the rules and restrictions of a fare to the initial Fare Information search so that it becomes less and less necessary to read the full fare rules.  Because let's face it, no one really wants to do that.